Organised by National Theatre
This session will be led by Jude Christian, whose adaptation of Hamlet will be staged at the National Theatre's Dorfman Theatre in April before heading out on a Primary Schools tour.
In this session, Jude will impart her experience and knowledge as a playwright, with a particular focus on 'writing history' in contemporary plays. Our rich global history and the multitude of fascinating stories and characters that emerge from it has been the focus of a countless amount of plays and the inspiration for many playwrights, whether it's the recent past or ancient history. It can often be tricky to know how to translate this source material into a successful play; using examples from her own career and through a series of discussion, an exercise and a chance to ask Jude your own questions, this session will focus on how and why playwrights might want to put the past on stage in the present, and approaches to researching, writing and staging. This workshop will be suitable for you are writing/are interesting in writing a play set in the past, or just generally interested in this aspect of playwriting.
Jude's writing credits include Dick Whittington (National Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith), Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith) and Nanjing (Shakespeare's Globe, Royal Exchange Manchester). Her credits as a dramaturg include Homemakers (HOME, Manchester), Doctor Faustus (Shakespeare's Globe) and Three Sisters (Royal Exchange, Manchester).